Monday, November 2, 2015

With the Holidays coming up, the last thing you want to do is write something in your Christmas letter with a glaring grammatical error. I'm here to help!

10. Let's say you want to talk about the poor judgment of the Supreme Court and how it almost ruined your summer. Only 1 E.

9. If you're updating your family and friends about the cute little rattlesnake you got for a pet, it's venomous, not poisonous. Venomous means it can inject venom. Poisonous means the thing can kill you or make you sick if you eat it.

8. Likewise, if you're updating your family and friends about the darling little dart frog you purchased, tell them it's poisonous.

7. You couldn't care less if you don't care about it. No one ever properly says, "I could care less," so just pretend that phrase doesn't exist.

6. You shinny up a tree or a pole. You don't shimmy unless you're in the middle of an Elvis movie. Shimmy is a dance, and not a particularly attractive one.

5. A lot of smart people get caught up saying incidences when they mean incidents.

4. In the classic use of wherewithal, it refers only to finances. Thus, financial wherewithal is redundant. Admittedly, this one is a bit pedantic, but how you can you write a grammar blog without being pedantic? It's half the fun.

3. If you're telling your friends about the wonderful vacation you took to Orlando, just call it a queue, not a queue line; line is redundant.

2. Stop correcting people when they say cactuses. Despite what your fourth grade teacher taught you, there is absolutely nothing wrong with saying cactuses instead of cacti. Both are correct.